Dhanbad: Like Arunachalam Muruganantham, the pioneer of low-cost sanitary napkins in Tamil Nadu, whose convictions inspired the Akshay Kumar-starrer PadMan, women of a small block in Baliapur, some 10km from the coal town, are charting out their own destinies while changing attitudes to menstrual health.

For the past six months, three women's self-help groups in Baliapur's Kusmatand, Bhikhrajpur and Dhokra panchayats are making low-cost sanitary napkins under the umbrella of a well-known NGO, Nidaan in an initiative funded by Nabard.

For women like Kajli Kumari Mahto, 32, who dropped out of school in Class IX, the scheme has changed her life.

A shy woman who could earlier never utter terms related to periods is now making sanitary napkins and earning up to Rs 3,500 a month, adding to her husband Bhagirath Mahto's income of Rs 6,000 as a compounder at a nursing home. "We do the same kind of work like Akshay ji in the film," she told the reporter, adding she watched PadMan.

The newfound confidence in her face is palpable. What's more, Kajli and her 11 colleagues - their self-help group Saraswati Nidan Mahila Samooh has 12 members - also educate other women about menstrual health and how recycling rags during periods could cause serious infections.

Kajli's colleague and friend Kapura Mahto, 37, said the initiative had taught them many things. Kapura's husband Anand Mahto runs a small grocery shop. "When we were a single-income family, we put our three children, two sons and a daughter, to government schools. Now that I also work, we put them in a nearby private English medium school," she said. "My husband and I took the decision jointly," she said.

The two other self-help groups, Noorhind Nidan Mahila Samooh at Bhikhrajpur panchayat and Radharani Nidan Mahila Samooh at Banhdih village of Dhokra panchayat, have 10 women each.

Nidaan's block coordinator Om Prakash Kumar said they had provided a five-day training to the women after constituting the self-help groups. Women make the sanitary napkins at their respective homes. Nidaan provides the raw material for the sanitary napkins at a subsidy. The women make the pads that again Nidaan helps them sell at local marts.

"Women purchase the raw material for 10 pads at Rs 19 and sell a pack for Rs 25, making a Rs 6 profit per pack of 10," Kumar explained. "It works out to a neat income of Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per month. What's more, every woman influences many more women and girls to use sanitary napkins as a healthier option," he said.

Do you know of any such self-help groups in your city? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com